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[Saba Sports News] Shaquille O’Neal, retired NBA star and host of “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” recently fell for a fake story involving Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic. O’Neal, citing an alleged report from “NBC Sports,” claimed that Nurkic was considering pressing charges against Draymond Green for an on-court incident. O’Neal criticized Nurkic for this supposed decision, accusing him of undermining the camaraderie among big men in the NBA and mocking Nurkic’s toughness.
However, it turns out that the story was fabricated. Nurkic himself debunked the claim in a post, stating, “Lmao first I never said that!! People be making sh*t up lol. Shaqilović I’m not from here, I’m not losing money and nobody fighting in this NBA.” It appears that O’Neal was misled by a post from an unverified Instagram account, which falsely attributed the claim to “NBC Sports.”
This incident serves as a reminder of the importance of verifying information, especially in the age of social media. O’Neal, a prominent figure in sports media, and his production team might have avoided this error with more thorough research and fact-checking before discussing the topic on air.